The Hebrew
word 'Bayith' can be translated in several ways but usually means
'house' or 'foundation'. Our ministry aims to be a welcoming house that
helps to provide believers with foundational material to bless and
encourage you.

by
Dusty Peterson & Elizabeth McDonald

A
sister article to the one below (published in the July/August 2002 issue
of Discernment)[1]
introduced the history of the modern Alpha Course and examined its
inextricable (and ongoing) links to ‘Toronto’.The following extraordinary material traces Alpha’s background in
a deeper way, identifying its absolute spiritual origins – and their
stunning ramifications.

It is perfectly understandable.Knowing that Toronto is questionable (to say the least) many people
now deny that Alpha could possibly be a companion to the Toronto spirit.A letter written to the Ulster newspaper, Tyrone Constitution,
more than two and a half years after Toronto ‘broke out’ insisted that
Alpha “was developed in an Anglican church in England nearly 20 years
ago and is thereforenot an accompanying Bible study course to the so-called ‘Toronto
Blessing’ [TB] as reports in your paper suggest”.[2]

Why there is anything to stop an
Anglican church in England producing an accompanying course to the
‘TB’ is not explained, but (although not admitted by the authors of
that letter), by the time ‘Toronto’ arrived, the Course was unrecognizable
from the original.For a
start, the Course began with just four talks whereas it now comprises fifteen, and Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) confesses that modern
versions of Alpha, under Nicky Gumbel, even have a fundamentally different
purpose from the earlier ones.[3]

It is naïve to assume that
Alpha’s doctrines and spirit could not have emanated from the same root source
which engendered ‘Toronto’.The
‘TB’ spirit did not just arrive from nowhere.Richard Riss traces it back several years before it arrived at
Toronto; Vineyard churches were regularly experiencing ‘holy laughter’
from 1986; Howard-Browne claims to have had the ‘TB’ back in 1979;[4]
and Benny Hinn started producing such uncontrollable manifestations in 1974.[5]

As we saw last time, Nicky re-wrote
the Course after he was introduced to a very Toronto-esque spirit in the
early 80’s - and he modified the material further when ‘Toronto’
itself arrived at his church.If
readers are in any doubt about this, HTB’s “vicar”, Sandy Millar,
states publicly that Nicky has altered the Course substantially
since he took it over.[6]Clearly, the modern version of Alpha bears little relation to the
original - except in name - and could easily be a vehicle for the
doctrines and spirit behind ‘TB’ now, even if it was not so from the
start.

If Alpha was not closely related to
Toronto, then why did HTB become arguably the prime European center
for dispensing the ‘TB’?And
why has HTB never repented of its heavy involvement?If Alpha was not designed to be compatible with ‘Toronto’ then
HTB’s immediate acceptance of the ‘TB’ and of everyone associated
with Toronto Airport Vineyard (TAV) - is a little surprising.Even more astonishing is the speed with which TAV accepted Alpha
- for it was advertising the Course in its Spread the Fire magazine
as early as the spring of 1994 (i.e. several years before many British
churches (and virtually all American ones) had even heard of Alpha,
let alone checked its soundness).

We saw numerous links between HTB
and the ‘TB’ in the last article.Indeed, Sandy Millar had already visited Toronto before most
British charismatics were even aware of Toronto’s existence.[7](When Sandy returned home, the “anointing” he brought with him
caused such a rumpus “in the Spirit” that the communion service at HTB
could not go ahead that week – as if God would want to disrupt a
commemoration that He instituted
of His only Son’s death.)

Nicky has privately admitted that
he conceals the depth of Alpha’s links with the TB: “Nicky flew to
Toronto to see it for himself. ‘I don’t
talkabout it now,’ says Nicky. ‘…It is very controversial. But
I’ll tell you – I think the
Toronto Blessing was a wonderful,
wonderful thing’”.[8]This is significant.Nicky
doesn’t keep quiet about the Toronto “thing” because he realizes it
was false but because mentioning
it might make people ask difficult questions and might lead them to
examine Alpha more carefully.As
we will demonstrate below, Nicky’s solution to Toronto’s
“controversial” nature is simply to spread its spirit by stealth.

TOUCH AND GO

The experiences of Nicky and Sandy
at which we have looked - and of Ellie Mumford - show that the TB/Alpha
spirit can be passed on as soon as it is received.In words reminiscent of Nicky, Randy Clark (famous for his major
role in ‘Toronto’) said of the ‘Blessing’: “we have caught a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful virus that has spread! Oh
God, make us carriers…”.[9]This analogy of a virus gives us a major clue as to how Alpha could
indeed have been turned into a Bible study course for the ‘TB’ before
‘Toronto’ ever happened.Let
us look at HTB’s background and see if we can determine where this
contagion came from.

The main route of infection has
obviously been through intimate contact with Vineyard – whose leaders have been producing TB-style
manifestations since at least the start of the 80’s.(This helps to explain why pockets of such manifestations occurred
simultaneously among groups around the world who had not actually been in
contact with anyone from Toronto itself.)John Irvine, who took over the running of HTB’s Alpha Course in
1981, cites the visits of Vineyard’s John Wimber “in 1982-3”
as bringing to HTB “a new expectation” of the Spirit “actually doing
things” during the Course.[10]Gumbel concurs.[11]

In terms of links, we have already
seen how Vineyard’s John
Wimber brought the ‘Wimber wobble’ to HTB in 1982.He traveled there again in ’83, ’84, ’86, and several further
times in the succeeding decade, as did other Vineyard leaders.[12]Note that these visits usually involved bringing whole teams
of people.And it was not that
Wimber would pause at HTB momentarily on travels elsewhere - he often
effectively took over week-long HTB conferences.

(Exposure to Vineyard has
continued ever since and the depth of involvement has been such that we
should probably view HTB as a Vineyard church in all but name.Nicky’s enduring commitment to Toronto and Vineyard is revealed
by the fact that he agreed to share a platform with Vineyard’s
Randy Clark at Toronto’s 2003 Catch
the Fire conference.Interestingly,
Nicky’s name has been removed from the advertised list of speakers since
we exposed his planned involvement there in our previous article.Clark is still listed however.[13]So much for Vineyard separating from Toronto.)

It is not surprising, then, that Vineyard’s
leaders have been in the forefront of Alpha
promotion, and that Vineyard
churches were among the very first to run Alpha in America.[14]In apparent recognition of Vineyard’s fundamental role in
creating today’s Alpha, Nicky glowingly quotes Wimber[15]
and gives up a full page of the central Alpha resource to endorsing the Vineyard
pastor Carl Tuttle.[16]

But how did Wimber’sVineyard
get the TB/Alpha “virus”?(Nicky
does seem a little reticent to admit where Tuttle and Wimber both came
from.[17])

THE TRUE SOURCE

Much of the following material is
widely known, but if we are to trace Alpha’s doctrine and spirit back to
source then we need to cover it – albeit briefly.(If the following section is read quickly it may seem confusing.If the data is converted into a diagram though, a clear
pattern of interconnections is seen.At
the very least we can easily recognize how thoroughly intertwined the key
parties are.)

By his own admission, two major
influences on Wimber were Kenneth Hagin[18]
and Morton Kelsey.[19]Kelsey believed Christ was “the ultimate shaman”,[20]
and his ‘guru’ was a Theosophist.[21]We will need to return to these things shortly.For now, though, let us consider Vineyard as a whole.

Vineyard’s ‘Toronto Blessing’
was supported by David Pytches – who supports Alpha too.[22]Pytches associates closely with HTB.[23]The main reason we mention HTB’s links with Pytches is because he
was also a high-profile supporter of the Kansas City Prophets (KCP)
and even wrote a book in their defense.[24]The KCP were based at
the Metro Vineyard church (now known as Metro Christian Fellowship), the
pastor of which is Mike Bickle – who again has endorsed Alpha.(The compliments go both ways, for, in 1990, HTB’s Sandy Millar
declared that he had “no doubt about the validity” of the KCP
ministry.[25])

Revealingly, the KCP agreed
that Vineyard was to be the group to produce the ‘Joel’s Army’ of
the ‘Latter Rain’ teaching[26]
- see later.When we consider
that the most prominent member of the KCP
by that stage was Paul Cain,
and that Cain was “closely associated” with Wimber, it seems
that this is a trail worth following.(It is surely also significant that “the KCP, headed by Cain,
ministered … at Holy Trinity, Brompton”[27]
- and did so the very year Gumbel took over Alpha.)Paul Cain preached in Toronto in 1996.Its leadership later announced: “Paul [Cain] can be
considered one of this generation’s prophetic grandfathers”.[28]So, from whence did Cain emanate?

Paul Cain’s mentor
was William Branham,[29]
a man who, among other false beliefs, denied the doctrine of the Trinity.[30]Cain was part of the ‘Latter Rain’ group of the mid 20th century.(Cain actuallyspoke
in support of the “Latter Rain”
at Toronto Airport Vineyard church in 1995.[31])Although rightly rejected as heretical by the Assemblies of God in
the 1950’s, the Latter Rain
movement was readily accepted by William Branham.Branham associated the Latter Rain movement with
‘Joel’s Army’[32]
– the calling that Vineyard supposedly inherited – and the
movement’s teachings were partly derived from Branham.[33]The Latter Rain movement famously produced a spiritual
“outpouring” not unlike Toronto’s, but it is less well known that
this former outpouring occurred three weeks after the Latter Rain leaders
“visited one of William Branham’s healing rallies”.[34]

The doctrines and practices of
Vineyard lean on those of the Latter
Rain movement.(And Latter
Rain influence is also visible in Alpha’s teachings; see our
book Alpha – The Unofficial Guide:
Overview for details.[35])Predictably, Toronto Airport Church is adamant that Branham and the
Latter Rain group were both of God.[36]

We have now seen how Branham,
through Paul Cain, is closely connected with Toronto and hence Alpha, but
there is another, equally important, such source of infection in the
well-known form of Kenneth Hagin Senior.Hagin ministered “in the circles of … Branham”,[37]
and was “influenced heavily” by him.[38]Branham naturally supported Hagin’s ‘prosperity’
teaching.[39]It should thus come as little surprise to hear that Branham’s
student Paul Cain has shared a platform with Hagin.[40](It is also worth noting that HTB was still endorsing KCP and Cain
in 1995[41]
- long after the various KCP scandals emerged.[42])Hagin is the father of the ‘Faith’ movement and gave us
Rodney Howard-Browne (RHB) among others.But RHB is only one of numerous links that exist between the
‘Faith’ movement and Toronto.[43](Note too that Hagin and his disciples produced TB-style
experiences quite a few years before even Vineyard did.[44])

But where did Hagin and Branham get
this “virus” that HTB continues to spread through its Alpha Courses
(as well as through its Alpha “Regional Days” and the Training “Conferences” it holds worldwide - and which it
heavily pressurizes churches to attend)?[45]

THE HEART

(Important Note: The following section may offend some readers, but
please check out our claims.They
will be found to be true.)

The meticulously-researched book A
Different Gospel, by D.R. McConnell, proves beyond doubt that the
spiritual and doctrinal roots of both Hagin and Branham[46]
– and hence the movements they inspired – lie firmly in a man called E.W.
Kenyon[47]
who belonged to the ‘New Thought’ metaphysical movement.[48]

‘New Thought Metaphysics’
also spawned Mary Baker Eddy’s ‘First Church of Christ,
Scientist’.[49](Oddly, Nicky now sells Alpha books on the basis that they teach “metaphysics”.[50])Sadly, ‘New Thought Metaphysics’ is based squarely on the
occultist, psychical practices of ‘Theosophy’ (essentially an
early name for the modern New Age movement).Indeed, an associate of Baker Eddy was also the co-founder
of the Theosophical Society[51]
alongside the ‘queen’ of Theosophy, Helena Blavatsky, who
confirmed that Theosophy is Luciferian[52]
– i.e. Satanic.

(In truth, ALL of the movements cited above have seen unbiblical
manifestations just as Alpha does.But
this should not shock us.Like
all the links in this chain from Toronto down, Alpha too prefers to
interpret the Bible in the light of its experiences rather than the other
way around.Among the other
similarities between these groups, our book demonstrates that: Alpha too
is Dominionist and ecumenical; Alpha too demotes Christ and deifies man;
and Alpha too encourages psychical practices like visualization and
positive confession.(See our
book for details of these, and other, parallels.)Each of these movements also leans substantially toward the false
belief that the Lord Jesus is ‘the Way Shower’ rather than
‘the Way’ period.These
things are all New Age.)

Despite the above paragraph, some
readers may feel that the provenance we have described amounts to nothing
more than ‘guilt by association’.It should be noted, however, that the people involved have all
admitted that they were indeed influenced by the linked groups or
individuals, and they have not repented of these things.Is this a sign of wisdom and spiritual maturity?Why is HTB endorsing RHB when he still supports Hagin?What is HTB doing when it calls Cain “a true servant of God”[53]
even though he has not repented of his relationship with Branham?Why does HTB continue to work with Toronto Airport when it still
promotes Benny Hinn?

There is an additional point to
make here.We have established
that it is only one step – via Wimber or Cain - from Nicky to Kenneth
Hagin.Intriguingly, it can
also be argued that there is only one step from Nicky to Branham,[54]
one step from Nicky to Kenyon,[55]
one from Nicky to Baker Eddy,[56]
and, in at least four separate ways, just one step from Nicky to Helena
Blavatsky herself.[57]

The “virus” which Alpha is
spreading is not from God at all.It
lies in the occult – i.e. the enemy.The attached chart proves this much more fully and demonstrates
that ‘Toronto’ and Alpha have identical spiritual roots.Please feel free to copy it for anyone you know who would benefit
from it.

TOUCH NOT

Nicky is understandably keen to
hide the trail of his “virus”.He ingeniously says: “I have not had the opportunity of meeting
any of the people who are supposed to be the roots. We are praying not for
the spirit of ‘X’ to fill people, but for the Holy Spirit to fill
them. I think it is irrelevant that so-and-so is linked with so-and-so,
who once met so-and-so, who was into something that wasn’t very good”.[58]But let us take his three sentences in turn:

(1) If the TB/Alpha spirit acts like a virus then it is
completely immaterial whether or not Nicky has personally met
someone more than one step back down the chain, let alone at the
“roots”.(Besides, between
them, HTB’s ‘staff members’ have indeed met a number of the key
players over the years.)

(2) Nicky prefers not to pray “for” the Holy Spirit, but “to”
the Holy Spirit,[59]
thus rebelling against the clear ordinance of Scripture.(This issue is covered properly in our book.[60])Attempting to approach or invoke God in ways other than those which
He has commanded in Scripture is something He curses,
rather than blesses with His Spirit (see Lev. 10:1-2; 1 Sam. 28,31; 1 Chr.
13 & 15 etc).

As for Nicky’s teaching that
Alpha participants are safe just because those praying for them use the
words ‘Holy Spirit’, this is incredibly unwise talk for someone who
claims to know about the New Age movement.New Ager’s admit that: “the name
you give to it [i.e. this spiritual power] is irrelevant”.[61]The most crucial thing is the door you go up to, not just
the name you call out.

(3) Apart from the fact that it is an appalling understatement to
call Theosophy “something that wasn’t very good”, Nicky thinks it
does not remotely matter who lays hands on him.But, again, this is totally at odds with Scripture.People receive the Holy Spirit when they are living holy lives (Acts 5:32; John 14:15-16), not when they happen to have
hands laid upon them by the right person.A man cannot transfer holiness to someone else, but he can
certainly transfer uncleanness.That is the precise message of Haggai 2:11-14.(Of course Nicky does not deny that the TB/Alpha spirit is
‘catching’, else he would surely not have agreed to be listed as a
speaker at Arnott’s Catch the Fire
conference!)

CONCLUSION

Under the Mosaic Law, the scapegoat
had the uncleanness of Israel
transferred to it by the laying on of hands (Lev. 16:22-22), and
there were numerous other instructions there about what God’s People
could and couldn’t touch (e.g. in Num. 6:6-9).Such is the importance of right understanding over this issue –
in order to avoid receiving spiritual uncleanness, or curses – that the
apostles considered it to be foundational
(Heb. 6:1-2).Unless the
person doing the praying is ‘right with God’, then unholinesscan be transferred; hence
Paul’s stark warning to Timothy to: “Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of
other men’s sins: keep
thyself pure” (1 Tim. 5:22).We need to be very sure about the person intending to pray over us,
and where they get their spiritual authority from, before we submit to
being prayed for by them.Else
we cannot expect God’s protection.

Please warn the flock.

May
God bless you.

Endnotes

[1]
Please Note:
An extra endnote reference (#3) was inadvertently inserted into the main
text of the first article – thus all subsequent references were out by
one.Please also not that
all emphases in quotes in this article are our own.

[2]“Alpha
Course ‘Excellent Tool for Evangelism’”,
letter from ‘Revs.’ A.C. Rankin, J.I. Mairs, N.H. Harrison & D.J.
Quinn, to a Northern Ireland newspaper, 05:Sep:1996, as recorded in
www.cephasministry.com/ alpha_Toronto_blessing.html in response to a
critique by Cecil Andrews of Take Heed Ministries.

[4]
Rodney Howard-Browne, Manifesting
the Holy Ghost, (RHBEA, 1992), pp13-14,as quoted in David
Hilborn, A Chronicle of the Toronto Blessing and Related Events,
as published by the Evangelical Alliance (UK), p4.

[8]
Jon Ronson, Guardian
Weekend, 21:Oct:2000, p10.According to Ronson’s article, “Nicky returned from Canada,
spoke passionately at HTB about the Toronto Blessing and, lo and behold,
his congregation, too, began rolling on the floor etc” [p10].We contacted Ronson who, as far as his memory would allow,
confirmed this (see email on file).

[11]
Gumbel has said “A couple of years later [1982] someone called John
Wimber, who is an American pastor, came …We owe an enormous amount to the Americans … because it
was through John Wimber and his team that many of the wonderful
things that we’ve seen happening in this church in the last 14 years,
humanly speaking, it came through them, and at one time,
you know, there were some of us who would only be prayed for if the
person had an American accent…” [Talk
13, Edition 1].

[12]
For instance, Vineyard’s John McClure went in November 1986 and
Vineyard’s Brent Rue went in October 1990.

[17]
Wimber is quoted in Talk 3, and several times in Talk 13, but despite
this and Vineyard’s substantial role in Alpha’s history, the word
“Vineyard” is never mentioned in any talk.Wimber is quoted in Questions of Life in various places (pp50-51,
167, 211-212) and a book he edited is also cited (on
p152), but only once in these chapters does Nicky admit that
Wimber is from Vineyard – and Tuttle’s church background is omitted
entirely.It is the same
story in other HTB publications.

[18]
Al Dager, John Wimber and
the Vineyard, as recorded at www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/wimber/john.htm.

[23]
For instance, Pytches worked with Millar on guidelines for handling the
TB [Hilborn, op. cit.,
p56]; a book by Pytches is advertised in Alpha
News #19, p32; and
Pytches has spoken at Alpha’s home church.HTB still sells the tape.

[24]
David Pytches, Some
Said it Thundered, (Hodder and Stoughton, 1990).

[26]
S.R. Shearer, The
Kansas City Prophets, John Wimber and the Catholic Church, (Antipas
Ministries, Denver Colorado), p5, as cited in
Roger Oakland, New Wine or Old
Deception? (The Word for Today, 1995), p76.

[35]
Our book Alpha – The Unofficial
Guide: Overview seeks to be a gracious, biblical and comprehensive
analysis of the Alpha Course.Designed
to be given to people deceived by Alpha, it is available from Jewel’s
Discernment Ministries.

[36]
In Toronto’s Spread the Fire
magazine of December 1996,
an article called “Atomic Power Thru Fasting & Prayer” by Lou
Engle was published, saying “[I]n 1947-1952 the great healing
revival broke out with men like William Branham,
… being used of God to perform extraordinary miracles … In
1948 the ‘Latter Rain’
outpouring hit North Battleford, Canada, and swept into the United
States … After reading ‘Atomic Power’ they entered a season of the
‘grace of fasting’ and continued for three months. Then the
Spirit fell.”Engle’s
phrase ‘Atomic Power’ refers to a book by Franklin Hall whose
teachings, combined with Branham’s, were fundamental to the Latter
Rain movement.Hall was an
occultist who, like Branham, believed the Zodiac was a “valid way of
interpreting God’s revelation to man” [Oakland,
op.cit., pp67,70].

[43]
See the previous article for just a few of these links.John Arnott was prayed over by RHB at Copeland’s church in June
1993 [Guy Chevreau, Catch the Fire, (Marshall Pickering, 1994), p23]; Hagin has
endorsed Toronto; and the Toronto church still sells Benny Hinn books
today!Claudio Freidzon was
very pro-Toronto and his ministry took off after meeting Benny Hinn in
1992 [Richard Riss, A
Brief Overview of the Work of the Holy Spirit in the Last Twenty Years,
December 2000].Interestingly,
an advert for a book by Claudio Freidzon appears in HTB’s Alpha
News, Mar – Jun
2001, p18.

[44]
Hinn, RHB, and Hagin all boast of TB-style manifestations dating
back to the 1970’s.

[45]
HTB “strongly recommends” attendance [Telling
Others, p23].Every edition of Alpha News advertises these Alpha Training ‘conferences’ with
the statement by Gumbel that “Running Alpha without going to a
conference is like driving a car without taking lessons”.This suggests to readers that it is very hard, and certainly very
dangerous, to run Alpha without attending a conference.The brochure for the Alpha
Supper Initiative 2001 states, “Training is the most
important ingredient of Alpha … The best way to prepare for
Alpha is for you and your team to attend an Alpha conference”.Many people thus feel pressured to go and receive whatever HTB
‘hands out’ at these ‘conferences’.But does the Bible not
tell us everything we need in order to live the Christian life?Besides, could HTB’s copious training manuals and videos not
supply all that is needed?Not
if a ‘spirit’ also has to be transferred!

[47]
According to McConnell and Hanegraaff: Branham was heavily influenced by
Kenyon; Hagin then called Branham a major influence on him;
and Benny Hinn also gives Branham “hearty approval”.Hagin plagiarized Kenyon “repeatedly and extensively” [Reachout
Trust, The ‘Faith’ Movement
may be Prospering but is it Healthy? (Reachout, 1995), pp4-5; see
also McConnell, op. cit., pp3-14; Hank Hanegraaff, Christianity
in Crisis (Nelson Word Ltd., UK ed., 1995), pp30,331].

[50]
The statement from The Observer newspaper that “Gumbel’s … humor, anecdote,
[&] metaphysics … are
both persuasive and compelling” is printed on the back cover of the
2001 editions of books by Gumbel such as Searching
Issues, Questions of Life
and A Life Worth Living.Could not another quote be used, or the seriously misleading word
“metaphysics” be dropped?

[56]
HTB uses a review of Alpha by the Christian
Science Monitor newspaper to promote the Course [see
An Introduction to the Alpha
Course, (undated HTB booklet), p2].This is a paper founded by Mary Baker Eddy and which, in every
issue, promotes ‘The First Church of Christ, Scientist’.

[57]
Links to Blavatsky include: B.F. Westcott (whom Gumbel happily refers to
in Questions
of Life, p167);
F.J.A. Hort, who, according to Gumbel, was “one of the greatest
textual critics ever” [Talk
2]; J.B. Lightfoot, whom Gumbel cites six
times in his book A
Life Worth Living (Kingsway,
2001); and John Ruskin (whom Nicky cites adoringly in Questions
of Life, p56).All four were supporters, or even disciples, of Blavatsky.